Llama, Llama Mad At Mama

I love the Llama, Llama books by Anna Dewdney. The author truly understands preschoolers and their responses to life. Each book makes me feel like she’s crawled inside a preschooler’s head to see how they think and react. The rhyming scheme makes reading the book easy and fun. And the art work draws
kid’s attention to the action taking place within the covers of the book.

Use Llama, Llama Mad At Mama to open conversations with preschoolers about selfishness. We often talk about “behaving” and “obeying” when going to the store with a parent but do we ever talk about being unselfish? When a child begs, whines or throws a tantrum in a store, it shows selfishness on the child’s part. The parent has a job to do and the child can make the choice to think of the parent and help
the parent instead of thinking about the child’s own wants (I want to be home playing with my toys, I don’t want to walk, I want that new toy, I want that cereal, I’m tired).

Remind preschoolers that every time they go to the store, they have a choice. Do they want to be like Llama, Llama throwing the fit in the middle of the book or do they want to be like Llama, Llama at the end when he helped his mama?

Other biblical connections:

Bible Stories: Prodigal son and the older boys attitude; Lot choosing the best land.

Bible Verse: Philippians 2:4